I will be cutting the front bumper about over the next few days to show of the Forge FMIC I have.

Any tips / Pics in doing this mod, I know a few folks have done it on here.

I am also not sure weather to fit mesh or leave the bumper exposing the intercooler.

Comments, ideas please..

I will be cutting the front bumper about over the next few days to show of the Forge FMIC I have.

Any tips / Pics in doing this mod, I know a few folks have done it on here.

I am also not sure weather to fit mesh or leave the bumper exposing the intercooler.

Comments, ideas please..

You're welcome to come and have a look at mine, I live in Gosport, not far from you in Havant. Best tip, don't cut your fingers off :P, seriously though a sharp stanley blade is the best manageable device to cut through the bumper plastic

I take it you have removed the crash bar Mark?

My advice is to take a deep breath before cutting GULP!

I'll be watching this one closely!

As I'm sure you will be Mark when you start cutting! I find a Dremmel pretty handy when I'm cutting plastic

How about your local exhaust fitters?

They'll have an air driven dremmel type aray of tools to cut it out for you.

sharp stanley knife does the trick. and an angle grinder on the crash bar mate!!!

definately stick some mesh in. if nothing else, it will slow some of the stones down before they wreck your intercooler.

Well Started this today.

First I Took off the front bumper and removed the crash bar. Took longer than I first thought as could not start cutting till I removed the Forge FMIC from the crash bar, including disconnecting hoses.

I used a angle grinder on the crash bar. Touched up all the exposed areas with black smoothrite to stop any rust issues.

That is now back on the car. Took some pics and will post later.

I also started on the bumper and found a sharp knife was not up to the job. So out came the angle grinder again and slowly cut through leaving a little overlap to trim back.

Will complete that tomorrow hopefully. Also should have some mesh coming tomorrow to so it might be completed by Wednesday.

DIY FMIC Bumper Mod Part 1

Ok this covers a few pics of the crash bar removal and modding. Next part will cover the Bumper modding to expose the full FMIC.

Note I decided to do this based on the knowledge that this will weaken the crash bar. My choice. May not be yours so bare that in mind.

Car on axle stands ready to go

Remove the 6 torx screws on either side of the Bumper arches

Remove 3 torxs screws on the top of bumper

Remove the bumper grills to expose 2 torxs screws and remove them

Some VRS's have 2 screws underneath also remove these.

Remove the Bumper side bolts(10mm) 2 per side.

Get a helping hand to support each side and pull bumper forward and away from the car. Job done

This will expose the crash bar and the FMIC if you have one already fitted

I had to remove the FMIC hoses and undo the bolts and nuts holding the crash bar to the car . If you still have the standrad crash bar you will have 4 bolts and 2 nuts to remove Car will look like this after removal.

I removed the FMIC from my crash bar then used masking tape to mark up where I wanted to cut with angle grinder. This was after I measured the length of the FMIC.

Then went to town with the grinder and this is the result.

Part 2 tomorrow:thumbup:

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

that looks so sexy mate!

I wanted to do that to mine but the GF wasnt sure so I didnt bother. cant wait to see the finished thing mate, HURRY UP!

Couldnt you of left the flat bits on and jus cut the front off? some one has done that? was it steve?

Oh n I like the tyres you got oon lol, I have the same ones, (off topic) how do you find them? I think they are crap in the wet but ok in dry

HURRY UP AND FINISH IT

I want to see what it looks like

billy

It is finnished now Billy and the Bumper is back on. Got the mesh on Monday. Just need to sort the pics out and make comments. Takes ages . I am well pleased mate. Mesh really matches the Milotec grills. Glad I polished up the FMIC as well.

I could of left the flat bit like Steve's but with the front taken off the flat bit is really serving no purpose, and for me not keen on leaving it as it still blocks part of the FMIC. Personal choice I guess.

I find the front tyres not to bad actually, not really driven them hard in the wet yet. I like the pattern and they are quite wide being ony 225(lot wider than the Nankangs)

Missed this until now - great guide!

Edit: want me to move it to the guides section?

lol

nice mate, cant wait.

dont got tryin hard in the wet mate. on a corner you go straight on even if takin it easy lol.

I found that just accel away from the lights in glasgow in Feb. not hard, the jusnction was a X roads but the straight on was not straight lol. I felt the car goin straight even tho I was turnin, she didnt turn till I stopped accel. was wierd as I would of thought Id of felt it a bit more than I did.

shouldnt you be in bed now? lol

Missed this until now - great guide!

Edit: want me to move it to the guides section?

Can do Rob, but wait till I post Part 2 with the finnished bumper. If that is ok:thumbup:

Sometimes folks don't go straight to the guide section when they are following posts.

shouldnt you be in bed now? lol

Sorry Dad. will do.

Can do Rob, but wait till I post Part 2 with the finnished bumper. If that is ok:thumbup:

Sometimes folks don't go straight to the guide section when they are following posts.

Yep, good plan, I can leave a redirect in this section too so people can find it.

just noticed this thread.Looks good nice result

Looks like I've got another job to now add to the list of things to do

Job done well Mark

DIY FMIC Bumper Mod Part 2

Ok this covers the remaing part of the modification to the bumper and final fitting. I can actually say I am very pleased with end result. It took longer to do it than probably most people would but this was due to me cleaning and re painting any part in site that I could not get to with bumper and crash bar fitted. Hope you like the result.

With Bumper removed mark up the area where you will be cutting. This will be the reg plate area and the sides and bottom of the bumper to remove the remants of where the reg plate was and the centre grill fitments. I used a jig saw to first roughly cut out the area.

Then used a rasp to get closer to the marker lines

Then finnally used sharp knife to gradually work the the line and finnish off with sand paper to make a good edge for the mesh to fit up to.

View from back

View from front. Note I left slight lip at the top to allow the black trim to fit into the oem holes and the mesh to overlap the top(can't see this when trim fitted)

Use cardboard template for mesh, marking it out through bumper opening (you could just offer mesh up to the bumper opening and mark it, but i found it awkward so preferred this method)

I then sat template over mesh and marked mesh with masking tape. I then left an extra approx 10 to 15mm(shorter at the top of the mesh) to allow for folding it around the rear of the bumper lip. I cut it and offered it up to the rear of the bumper and then trimmed back any access.

Then I offered up the mesh and taped it in place to hold it. I then carefully folded back the extra part of the mesh around the bumper lip and pressed it in place.

Pic of mesh sealed in place (tiger seal) left over night with some heavy object pressing down on the sealed areas to keep it tight against the bumper lip.

Finnshed Mesh in place. Note the top of the mesh sits over the front of the bumper. This will be sandwiched between the black trim and bumper to give it extra support.

Refit bumper (side grills not yet fitted)

Closer shot with side grills(milotec) now fitted. I got a nice match with the honeycomb grill effect as the milotec ones.

Pic of the finnish to the bumper with mesh sitting nicely. Paid off using some weight to press the mesh to the bumper overnight.

Front end shot

Showing the lowered stance of the weitecs

Pic of the reg plate cut down to size. Left around 5mm around the lettering

Could not resist a shot of the engine bay showing shiney bits and FMIC top

Thats it folks, hope you like it.

Edited 18 February, 201214 yr by Bowders1

Very nice, neat job!

Can you take a pic from a little further back so we can get the full effect please?

Cheers Rob.

Will do, car is filthy at the moment as it has been up in the air nearly 2 weeks and i was on holiday before that so will clean it and repost some.

Looks like a very professional finish in the end and looks great

Fantastic job. Look very proffesional:cool:

Cheers Guys. Thanks for the comments.

That looks excellent mate. Nice work.

Looking at your engine bay is making me think I need to wash mine this weekend!

bout time you got them up lol,

mate I love it looks stunnin!

that looks like the same mesh I used on my bonnet grill? Wonfer what it would look like with it on there too? lol

billy